Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
A commentary by Scott Ashley
Good News managing editor
Two items dominated the U.S. news media last week. One was the Super
Bowl halftime show; the other was the kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl.
The Super Bowl halftime show provoked a storm of outrage, as indeed
it should have. A pair of performers—and I certainly wouldn’t
call them "artists" or "talented entertainers"—cooked
up a plan sure to generate a lot of publicity, which apparently was their
unstated goal. At the end of their sexually charged performance, he ripped
of part of her costume, revealing a pierced and decorated breast.
At first both asserted their innocence—although how innocent two
performers could be while undulating to lyrics that included the line, "I'll
have you naked before the end of this song" is debatable.
"Wardrobe malfunction" was the official excuse. I guess they
don’t make black-leather bustiers like they used to. As one commentator
said, "I guess its moral fabric was rotten." And how!
Their story didn’t hold up for long after photographers at the
event leaked the fact that they had been told where to stand to get the
best shots and to be ready for a big surprise at the end of the song.
The fact that her Web site had earlier promised "shocking moments" during
the performance didn’t help her profession of innocence.
Perhaps the saddest fact of all is that this impromptu scripted moment
may well have been a fitting climax for a halftime show that featured
misogynist singers, degrading lyrics and dancers removing too much of
already-skimpy outfits onstage in front of an audience of . . . the entire
world, basically.
Oh, yes—and for good measure, a liberal debasing of the American
flag by a sweating buffoon who wore it as a poncho (but, to his credit,
at least he was covered up).
Ironically, that same day 11-year-old Carlie Brucia was abducted while
walking home from a sleepover at a friend’s house. A car-wash surveillance
camera captured the abduction, which took place in broad daylight.
The man in the video was later identified from a tip phoned in to police.
To no one’s surprise, he had an extensive criminal record—he
had been arrested at least 13 times—and he’d earlier been
acquitted on a charge of attempted kidnapping. At the time of the crime
he was free in spite of having violated parole conditions.
As for Carlie, a frantic and extensive search proved fruitless. At the
end of the week her body was pulled from thick undergrowth near a church
parking lot two miles from where she had disappeared. A nation’s
broken and heavy hearts went out to her, her family and her many young
friends.
Sexually charged, misogynist music; a culture glorifying violence, drug
use and doing whatever feels good; and the murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Is there a connection?
Is there a connection between judges who find the Constitution prohibits
public display of the Ten Commandments but contains the right to marriage
between homosexuals?
Is there a connection between courts that rule that the words "under
God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional, but a nation
has the right to murder 40 million unborn, innocent baby girls and boys?
Is there a connection between the sex-drenched sitcoms that dominate
our TV diet, the explosion of Internet porn, the ongoing degrading of
our culture and any of the above?
In Genesis 15:16, God made an interesting comment to the patriarch Abraham
about a people called the Amorites. Foretelling the future of Abraham’s
descendants, God told Abraham that his descendants would leave the land
for a time, "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for
the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
What a curious—and sobering—comment. God was obviously watching
this people, this culture, and He knew that it was in a downward spiral
heading only to oblivion. He knew it.
And it was only a matter of time. And when that time came, when the
iniquity of the Amorites was complete, God wiped out that people,
that culture, turning their land over to the Israelites. The obvious
implication is that there was only so much that God Himself could stomach
before he wiped the slate clean.
When He looks at the American culture today, what does He see? Nudity
and the public debasement of women on the most-watched TV event of the
year. Music that glorifies violence, sex and abuse of women. TV sitcoms
and Hollywood movies that corrupt our values and the minds of our children.
God will only take so much. At what point will He have endured all He
can stomach and say, "The iniquity of the Americans, like the Amorites,
is now complete"? |
